FuzzyTagz
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Humaira Grant
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
Fleur
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
Jeffrey Burton
I've seen two movies from this guy. The other was the 'I'm going to beat you over the head with my metaphors' exercise in overindulgence called 'The Neon Demon' and this thing. I want you to understand I'm a major supporter of 'auteur' cinema. I love the Cohen bros, David Lynch (sometimes) and worship Stanley Kubrick. I really wanted to like Nicholas Refn but I find myself despising him. When I was in college one of my teachers used to say, 'Leave the last 15 brush strokes off of your paintings, It allows the viewer to fill them in'. Well, Mr. Refn not only puts in the last 15 strokes, he adds about 150 more. It makes for a film that you can look at but you have no invitation to participate in. You can almost hear him shouting instructions to the actors for how they should walk. see him posing them just perfectly for the camera and giving them EXACT line readings. Yes, there are some beautiful scenes in the movie and yes the art direction and cinematography are great but the whole exercise draws so much attention to itself that you can't involve yourself in what's going on. You can only look at it. I usually give a movie 10 to 15 minutes to draw me in. I've now watched two complete movies by Refn AND NOT BEEN DRAWN IN FOR A SECOND. He may one day turn into a good director if he lightens his touch. He might even become a great one but I can't see it. If you can sit through editing either of these two films and not see they are stillborn you've got no artistic eye and probably no creative soul. I'm not falling for it, again. Last movie of his for me. There no way to critique the acting because the actors aren't allowed to do anything. He may as well have put on a puppet show. And the writing gets buried under 'THE STYLE' so, you really can't evaluate that either. Even if you like art house movies, ( I do) I can't recommend this. It is totally lifeless and ultimately unenjoyable.
krice23
I like to flatter myself by thinking I have a reasonably sophisticated film palette but If I hadn't First read the review by Frostychud I wouldn't have had more than a base clue as to what in hell was going on in this movie, except perhaps to deduce that white people should just stay out of Thailand altogether.
I mean, I literally have so many questions fogging my brain right now I can't compel them into anything resembling a cohesive structure. Worse yet, I don't know whether to feel chumped or just plain dense! Not a place I'm used to finding myself, I must say.
Under normal circumstances I would give it another viewing. I've certainly watched movies before that have taken me more than one viewing to take in everything offered. And although this film does have its fine points, overall it feels like it's trying entirely too hard to be artsy, with timing going well beyond the pregnant pause and lighting too perfectly placed the setup time alone must have made a serious dent in the budget. Don't even get me started on how they expected to sell a vigilante police inspector (? Capt.?; Chief?) dispensing his own form of justice at the end of a kitana blade he carries around on his back!
I'll give you a few examples of what I did like. Across the board the performances were well done, if, at times, somewhat overly nuanced. Of course, Gosling and Thomas are always spectacular. The ladies costumes, hair, & makeup were supurb! The use of the inaudible in place of dialogue in scenes showing high stress conditions was clever and well done. This is one of the few films that filmed dark but not black; in other words, I could still See Everything! Nothing drives me to distraction more than a scene filmed so dark you can't make out anything, having no clue what you're supposed to be seeing.
In the end I must confess to just not having enough interest to warrant another sitting. There's a lot of films out there I've yet to see.
brian-doucette
Really suspenseful. The lack of dialogue was not an issue for me as the imagery and cinematography more than adequately make up for it.
Smoreni Zmaj
If you are a sincere fan of slow, but extremely slow movies, play this movie on x2 speed and you may somehow hold on to the end. I have to praise myself, I fell asleep only after more than an hour. I usually evaluate the general impression that movie has left on me, but sometimes, as in this case, this is impossible because my impressions are very divided. It's done in similar style as Neon Demon, but in my opinion it's a bit better. Movie is visually fascinating and deserves 9/10, but the story and pace are terribly boring and I hardly made myself watch it to the end, which is on my scale 2/10. As it's better than Neon Demon, which I rated 3/10, I will draw the average from 2 and 9, and rate it5,5/10
